ABSTRACT
Faith can be a powerful force for positive development and social change, but as James (2011) notes, it is a highly flammable fuel that can also easily result in negative outcomes. The pervasive influence of religion in the lives of many gives it a unique ability to shape both individual and communal identities (perceptions of self and others). While religious identities can be an extremely positive force, they can also be used as a source for exclusive and intolerant attitudes, with a potential to feed nationalisms that become motivators or justifications for conflict. This is particularly true in tense multi-religious contexts where competing ethnoreligious nationalistic identities and historical claims are forced to coexist – especially for faith-based development agencies that relate to one of those identities. This chapter explores the work of a small local Christian faith-based organisation (FBO) working in Buddhist communities in a region of significant Buddhist-Muslim tension and recent violent communal conflict, as a case study of development across complex faith boundaries. Local FBO Bethel works in partnership with the international FBO GraceWorks Myanmar (GWM). Making this case particularly interesting, Bethel has evolved out of a related religious organisation that maintains a mandate for preaching a contextual Christian message to Buddhists, and most of the local workers are converts from Buddhism. Given the most inflammatory religious sparks for worsening conflicts are widely regarded to be discriminatory practices and proselytism – or perceptions of proselytism (e.g. Clarke and Jennings 2008; Flanigan 2010) – this case study is interesting for the way these issues are handled. This chapter includes new research examining whether and how this FBO has been able to avoid inflaming tensions and has been broadly granted a social mandate to operate in Buddhist communities, even though it constitutes a third religious actor in a context of vitriolic interreligious conflict. This chapter examines the history and nature of the conflict in Rakhine State (broadly defined to include both non-violent and sometimes violent expressions), and the dynamics of this cross-faith (Christian-Buddhist)
development relationship. It looks at the degree and nature of the tensions created by this engagement, examines the impact of the faith difference on development effectiveness, and explores the accommodations and approaches to faith interaction which shape both positive and negative interactions. It examines concerns about proselytism which have emerged, as well as other religious difference issues, and explores the solutions and adaptations introduced. The aim of this chapter is to identify keys with wider applicability when working across faith boundaries, particularly in areas with pre-existing communal tension. There are six sections in this chapter. The first section has introduced the chapter. The next section provides the background to the case study, introducing the Rakhine State context and development agencies involved, before a third section briefly describes the fieldwork methodology. A fourth section documents the issues encountered by the FBO workers in their programme implementation across faith boundaries, and the solutions and success factors they have identified in working across the faith boundary, while a fifth section analyses these data to identify keys to success and potentially transferable elements. A final section offers a brief conclusion to this case study.
